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Arsenal versus FC Porto (2-0). Man standing to show his dislike for Tottenham Hotspur.
©geo sharples
Arsenal's new stadium, entrance on Hornsey road.
©geo sharples
Looking south. The map gives the misleading impression that the tunnel mouth seen leads to an exit onto the North London Line in an easterly direction. This is quite false, as the tunnels do not emerge anywhere - they continue to a terminus at Moorgate which is entirely underground.
©Dr Neil Clifton
Drayton Park station has an interesting history. Originally built by the Metropolitan Railway, the Great Northern and City line was built to take full-size rolling stock from an underground station at Finsbury Park to Moorgate. In 1933 it passed to London Transport, who worked the line with tube trains. In the mid-1970s the northern end at Finsbury Park was altered to join the surface lines, and British Railways took over the line, using these dual-voltage trains.
©Dr Neil Clifton
One of London's least-known stations, Drayton Park opened on 14 February 1904 on the Great Northern & City Railway, which passed into operation by the Metropolitan Railway in 1912. The GN&C was operated electrically from the start, using a four-rail insulated DC supply system with positive rail outside the running rails on one side, and negative rail on the other. This unique system survived into London Transport control in 1933, and not until 1939 was it changed to the LT standard 4-rail system, using tube-sized rolling stock. Drayton Park station in 2010 essentially retains the appearance it had when built, although the LT canopy added after 1933 rather spoils it.
©Dr Neil Clifton
See [[1958515]]
©Dr Neil Clifton
©R Sones
At the junction with Martineau Road
©R Sones
Taken from the junction with Martineau Road
©R Sones
This seems to be the only railway-related building, except for those which are actually part of the station, to have survived at Drayton Park. What its initial use was, and what it is used for now, I would be interested to know. It seems to have had access by two roads of rail tracks from the north end, but a 1939 photograph shows that rail access was no longer possible by that date.
©Dr Neil Clifton
Overshadowed now by the enormous Emirates Stadium of Arsenal Football Club, this shows the tracks at the north end of Drayton Park station, looking towards Finsbury Park. Until 1975, the tracks entered tunnels here to reach underground platforms at Finsbury Park. The line was at that time part of London Transport's Northern Line, and plans had been made for the tracks to surface here and be extended via Finsbury Park to East Finchley, Alexandra Palace, Edgware, and Bushey Heath. World War II intervened to prevent this plan ever being carried out, but in 1976 the line between Finsbury Park and Moorgate, the southern terminus, was transferred to British Railways, being served by full-size rolling stock from such places as Hertford North and New Barnet. These services still remain, now worked by First Capital Connect.
©Dr Neil Clifton
Dist:0.1km<br/>Old and new street signs
©Julian Osley
Dist:0.1km<br/>Drayton Park railway station is on the Network Rail Northern City Line which carries First Capital Connect services between Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City or Hertford via Finsbury Park. It has had a chequered ownership, being opened by the Great Northern & City Railway in 1904, becoming part of the Metropolitan Railway in 1913, being transferred to the Northern Line in 1933, and becoming part of the British Rail network in 1975. For comparison there is a photo of the station at the end of its Metropolitan Railway days in 1933 in the London Transport Museum photographic archive here http://photos.ltmcollection.org/images/max/82/9855682.jpg
©Nigel Cox
Dist:0.2km<br/>
©Dr Neil Clifton
Dist:0.2km<br/>
©Dr Neil Clifton

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